DM Tools

jfrenia · Post by **jfrenia** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:32 am

I am a software developer and not sure how many out there use a laptop as part of DMing, but I like it's help sometimes (also makes a good DM screen at times

)

I was looking to see if anyone had any ideas of other tools that would be helpful to a DM that really aren't available out here.

Post by **Jengenritz** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:28 am

I am a huge fan of laptop gaming, and especially laptop DMing.

I custom-make most of my DM tools using Excel spreadsheets. For this year's tournament I used a stripped copy of my super-duper character sheet to track the abilities of the PCs, monster hit points, and a few other things, like negative conditions.
If you posted your email, I'd gladly send it your way.

As far as published tools and the like, I contributed $ to www.d20srd.org and received a downloadable version of that site. Handy for when you want to hyperlink away but you aren't sure of an internet connection. I used it in this year's tournament.

That's about all I use once the game goes "live". I like to just be able to glance at the screen and get my info, then get back to the game.

jfrenia · Post by **jfrenia** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:03 am

Sure, anyone can reach me at cnygamer@twcny.rr.com if they wanted to send anything to me privately.

Here's a screen shot of the tool me and a friend are working on; the map doesn't correspond to the data, but the idea is there. We like it because it organizes the data better than a large group of text you may find in a module and requires less skimming of paragraphs for the data you want. For some reason the browsers keep resizing it for me, so you may have to maximize the screen to read it...

jfrenia · Post by **jfrenia** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:38 am

The other tool we have in the works right now is an initiative tracker.

zirzird · Post by **zirzird** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:31 am

I'm an inveterate laptop DM. It's been over ten years since I ran a game with paper and pencil.

jfrenia: These screenshots look great!

jfrenia · Post by **jfrenia** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:44 am

Once the tools are ready I will be looking for some testers. If anyone is interesting in some tools to assist DMing let me know. On here or privately, cnygamer@twcny.rr.com

hexnut · Post by **hexnut** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:41 pm

Jengenritz wrote:I custom-make most of my DM tools using Excel spreadsheets. For this year's tournament I used a stripped copy of my super-duper character sheet to track the abilities of the PCs, monster hit points, and a few other things, like negative conditions.
If you posted your email, I'd gladly send it your way.

I'd be interested in seeing what you have... is the offer open to other takers?

Post by **Jengenritz** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:22 am

Absolutely open to any taker. Send me a PM with your email and I'll send you a copy of the Excel character sheet I use. It's massive, but I think it's kinda handy since it auto-adds templates, tracks conditions, and does all kinds of other cool tricks.